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A day in the life of a lamptimer
- Thread starter DrAkbar
- Start date
landtuna said:
Prospective buyer of KAZG: What do you want for this broadcasting station?
Gumpdusky: Well, for broadcasting, we want $1000.
Buyer: What do you want for not broadcasting?
Gumpdusky: $2000.
Buyer: What do you want for it with the broken lamptimer?
Gumpdusky: $5000.
Buyer: With no lamptimer?
Gumpdusky: You couldn't afford it.
(With apologies to the Marx Brothers. ;D )
DrAkbar
Star Participant
landtuna said:
Not many comparable sales for stand alone AM's in Phoenix during the past year. 8~Sixty is in escrow for $3m (price adjusted for TMISU's move of the xmttr site - plus we have doubts about whether this deal will close) and 10~Ten sold a couple years back as part of a three station deal for $20m. Both stations have better coverage of Phoenix day and especially at night. Another twist in determining valuations is the lack of financing for station purchases in the current economy. Nurse Jeff ran the figures through the Akbarizer computer and tells me anything north of $1.25m should be seriously considered by Gumpdusky.
Dr. Akbar said:
It was figured KAZG is worth $1 million, the license, equipment and etc..
Gumpdumpsky was offered $2 million for the station and turned it down in a heartbeat.
oldiesfan6479
Star Participant
Dr. Akbar said:
Is that the "lamptimer-compatible" DOS 4.0 model like the one in the lumberyard? ;D
landtuna
Walk of Fame Participant
radioguybroadcasting said:
Hey....my garage light puts out about 52 watts. Now to figure out how to hook up an antenna...... ???
But seriously, back in my navy radio days we had non-solid state transmitters and had to bring them online slowly lest we blow something important - especially peaking the plate and dipping the grid, or summat, and getting the SWR down quickly before we smelled bacon from the signal bridge.
Wouldn't having a lamptimer blasting the transmitter on and off suddenly tend to blow important pieces?
landtuna said:
Yes, the lamptimer blasting that old hunk of an Ampliphase transmitter on and off would make it blow a tube or fuse...... I had an old RCA BTA1-M that could only be turned on manually at sign on and off at signoff.. it couldn't handle a lamptimer or remote control, and even if it could.. it was too piecemealed together and jurry rigged to do it safely.
landtuna said:
Me and my buddy used to joke that if I DID hook up a lamptimer to my RCA BTA1-M to turn it on, the transmitter would skyrocket it through the roof, engulffed in bright red and orange flames.. and fly through town and land on the roof of the cross town FM station's studios!
oldiesfan6479
Star Participant
radioguybroadcasting:
Do you know for sure that the Lumberyard 1440 XMTR is indeed
an old RCA Ampliphase?
Just as someone (Akbar?) started the lamptimer legend, I invoked
the Ampliphase moniker in a post on August 17 in the "KAZG/KSLX"
thread, or maybe I even used it before then:
I needed a model with a name beginning with "A" for the joke, and
since the Ampli-fuzz is an old-style rig, and KAZG seems to be put
together with chewing gum, bailing wire, and a lamptimer...
Do you know for sure that the Lumberyard 1440 XMTR is indeed
an old RCA Ampliphase?
Just as someone (Akbar?) started the lamptimer legend, I invoked
the Ampliphase moniker in a post on August 17 in the "KAZG/KSLX"
thread, or maybe I even used it before then:
oldiesfan6479 said:catfish said:
Yet another revelation into the inner workings at Lumberyard 1440.
Sounds logical--free running internal PC clocks are notorious for drifting.
If it wasn't a lamptimer I figured they got someone from the lumberyard
to come over with a 2x4 and whack the side of the XMTR to turn it off.
Of course that might tick off PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of
Ampliphases). ;D
Or maybe they just knock three times on the ceiling in the morning...
twice on the pipe at night.
I needed a model with a name beginning with "A" for the joke, and
since the Ampli-fuzz is an old-style rig, and KAZG seems to be put
together with chewing gum, bailing wire, and a lamptimer...
oldiesfan6479 said:radioguybroadcasting:
Do you know for sure that the Lumberyard 1440 XMTR is indeed
an old RCA Ampliphase?
Just as someone (Akbar?) started the lamptimer legend, I invoked
the Ampliphase moniker in a post on August 17 in the "KAZG/KSLX"
thread, or maybe I even used it before then:
oldiesfan6479 said:catfish said:
Yet another revelation into the inner workings at Lumberyard 1440.
Sounds logical--free running internal PC clocks are notorious for drifting.
If it wasn't a lamptimer I figured they got someone from the lumberyard
to come over with a 2x4 and whack the side of the XMTR to turn it off.
Of course that might tick off PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of
Ampliphases). ;D
Or maybe they just knock three times on the ceiling in the morning...
twice on the pipe at night.
I needed a model with a name beginning with "A" for the joke, and
since the Ampli-fuzz is an old-style rig, and KAZG seems to be put
together with chewing gum, bailing wire, and a lamptimer...
I don't know for sure they have an old RCA Ampliphase transmitter, but they certainly have a tube transmitter because tube transmitters notoriously can't go below 250W.. if they had a solid state box, there's no reason they couldn't operate at night.
O
OCradiodude
Guest
The good Doctor does it again! More hilarity regarding Lumberyard 1440!
Howard Hoffman did a bit on his KOPA show back in 1983. Some guy mentioned that his car didn't have FM radio and was forced to listen "through the static" until the 6 a.m. sign-on. I'll have to post the clip.
Probably still using the same transmitter today that they were using then ;D
Howard Hoffman did a bit on his KOPA show back in 1983. Some guy mentioned that his car didn't have FM radio and was forced to listen "through the static" until the 6 a.m. sign-on. I'll have to post the clip.
Probably still using the same transmitter today that they were using then ;D
oldiesfan6479
Star Participant
radioguybroadcasting said:
Back in April there was a period where KAZG did stay on all night, however it was
noted that at the 7:00pm sign-off time (lamptimer approximate) they would go off
for 5-7 minutes then come back on with the blazing 52 watts of nighttime power.
Reference: the "Legal And Illegal Power Aliens" thread, replies 12-37.
It was speculated that Gumpdusky was trying to sell KAZG and the prospective
buyer wanted to hear the night signal. As they would have to be in proximity
to the lumberyard, I figured the prospect was staying at Eliot Spitzer's fave
Phoenix-area hotel. (You finish the joke. ;D)
DrAkbar
Star Participant
oldiesfan6479 said:
We coined "Lumberyard 14~Forty"...the Nurse and I believe it was Oldiesfan that deduced KAZG was using a lamptimer. Now who came up with "Gumpdusky"?
For the record, Lumberyard 14~Forty can power down to 52 watts as they did just that last spring. As mentioned earlier the 5kw xmttr was shut off for five to seven minutes while they made the transition to lower pow-pow-power. We heard 'em just fine up at PV Mall in the middle of the damn night!
Dr. Akbar said:
Have we verified it was actually 52 Watts?
AN old tube can go to 250W no problem, maybe 150 with padding... and the difference, surprisingly between 52W and 250W isn't that much....
..I should know, I tried it at my station... 50W versus 250W with a solid state box.
Also, going from high power to low power, even if it has to be done manually shouldn't take more then 30 seconds absolute max.. if done automatically, less then 10 seconds.
It's possible the DOS based PC that controls KAZG slipped up and turned the station back on. I've worked for stations where the remote control would shut the station off at sunset, briefly.. and then would turn it right back on. Why? Because, the remote control didn't know the station was supposed to be off, and thinking it was supposed to be on, it attempted to turn it back on.. and it did.
oldiesfan6479
Star Participant
Dr. Akbar said:
I'm 98.7% sure it was KeithE4 who gave us the Gump.
oldiesfan6479 said:
LOL , I like the name Gumpdumpsky..
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